W4S ST-1000, How Loud Should It Play?

is there a high/low gain setting on the preamp? How about the amps, do they have a high or low power setting?

When I tried some Crown amps as an experiment on my system, they were rated at 300watts per channel and 600 watts bridged. They did not seem that much louder than the tube amps I was using previously.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

Steve, thanks for the update. Some basic questions: What is your source component? If it is a computer-based source, are you sure that there isn't a software volume control in the path? And have you tried a variety of material at the 65 setting, to be sure that the issue isn't simply due to the particular recordings having been mastered with peaks that are significantly below maximum, and/or to the particular recordings having a high ratio of peak volume to average volume?

Regards,
-- Al

When I ran a DAC-2 into a ST-500, my volume was usually in the 50+ range if I wanted to listen loud. The speakers used at the time are about 83dB. I fixed it by adding a STP-SE, and it improved the SQ too. ;)

Here's what I found in a review at 6 moonts:

"When the minimum level for the corresponding input is set to 5, the maximum level will be 65. Basically the min level is the amount of steps skipped in the first position. When used, the min level is subtracted from the 70 possible steps total. With an inefficient system requiring a volume level of 12 to hear anything, a min level of 10 removes steps 1-10 and max equals 60. The volume table offers from 3db to 1dB steps as follows: 0 = mute; steps 1-9 = 3dB; steps 10-24 = 2dB; steps 25-70 = 1dB. In terms of output voltage on RCA when min is set to 0, 62 = 1V, 68 = 2V. For XLR, the 1, 2, 3 and 4V out equivalents are 56, 62, 65 and 68. These will be the values to use in fixed output mode when 70 max at 2.6/5.2V on RCA/XLR is too high for either the following preamp's input stage or a system's overall gain structure."

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/wyred4/dac_2.html

Ice amp's may show good numbers when it comes to watts but they are very low current , many speakers require current to bring them to life .
I tried a friends Bel Canto Ref1000m's with a power rating of 500w at 8ohm and 1kw at 4 ohm , they produced much lower volume levels than my 200w at 8 ohm A/B designed Levinson amp . The lack of control was also very apparent on my mid efficient ( 87db ) Salon's .
That being said I would still try a friends preamp in your system before giving up on your present power amp .